Interview: Mike Williams (Qwik Media)

Mike Williams is a Managing Partner at Qwik Media, based in Victoria, BC. Mike has 6 plus years in Online Marketing and a Bachelor of Commerce in Entrepreneurial Management.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you?

I was born and raised in Victoria, BC, Canada, a proud Canadian, eh! I’m 31 old years and I feel younger than I look, I swear.

2. How long have you been in affiliate marketing and how did you get involved?

I’ve been in Affiliate Marketing for the last 5 years. I got started when I began working for another Victoria based Affiliate Network, that I will Never mention, but I’m not blue about leaving them behind ;).

3. What is the biggest mistake you made when you first started doing Affiliate Marketing?

Thinking that putting up more ads would lead to more revenue and profit. The key to success in almost anything is to focus on one thing at a time.

4. What are the best places for the newbie to learn affiliate marketing? What advice would you give for them?

The best place to learn is on the job. But, before you jump in you can read up on Wickefire (don’t comment, you’ll just get flamed), Jonathan Volk, Ian Fernando, Nicky Cakes, Riley Pool and a few other blogs. Don’t buy any programs or ebooks, just read as much free content as you can, then take the advice to make your own decisions. Also, don’t just think outside the box, think way outside and aim for niche markets where you can find cheaper traffic that converts. Once you’ve started generating traffic look for small wins and ways to exploit them and diversify your campaigns, and be sure to focus, focus, focus!

5. In your experience, what are the three most critical elements of run a successful campaign.

Images, Call to actions and landing pages. Get the user’s attention, then allow them to do what you want them to and give them a reason to convert.

6. What’s the difference between a Super affiliate and an Average affiliate?

Super affiliates on one network are average affiliates on another. So, most times it’s just the network they are running on. The other difference is the focus, hustle and creativity the affiliate puts into their work.

7. Tell us a little bit about Qwik Media and what you do over there?

Qwik Media is a CPA Affiliate Network that focuses on high-converting and high-earning short form lead-gen based campaigns in a number of categories. We give publishers what they need to succeed by providing them with landing pages, link redirectors, creatives and tools to improve their campaigns, increase ROI and help them be more effecient.

8. I see you are using LinkTrust as your affiliate network platform. What made you pick them instead of choosing DirectTrack, HasOffers and HitPath, etc?

Linktrust does what they say they can do. Most importantly it tracks well and ensures that our Affiliates’ earn high EPC’s on a consistent basis. Also, Linktrust provides us with the most important features that we need to match our competitors tracking systems. We chose to outsource tracking so that we could focus on our Affiliate’s success and providing them with the best possible campaigns.

9. There are already so many CPA affiliate networks out there. What makes Qwik Media different?

Our commitment to service and to dedication to ensure our Affiliates succeed and grow their profits.

10. Which offers are performing well on your network?

Short form lead gen campaigns in the Biz Opp, Dating, Email Submits and Cash Advance categories.

11. Which traffic sources prove to be the most effective for your top earning affiliates – PPC, PPV, Facebook, Media buys or any others?

PPV and Facebook are two of our best traffic sources. Likely because we build PPV landing pages and help with ideas to promote our campaigns.

12. What are the criteria for a marketer to be accepted at Qwik Media?

Not to be fraudulent (we’ll catch you) and to show the potential and desire to succeed.

13. For those who are interested in working with you and your affiliate network – What’s the best way/time to reach you?

14. What are the keys to building successful relationships between Affiliates and Affiliate Networks? What are some of the challenges of being an Affiliate Manager?

Communication and trust. Affiliate Managers need to listen to Affiliates and recommend relevant campaigns that help Affiliates succeed. Trust is very important and Affiliates need to feel that they can trust their Affiliate Manager. They need to trust that the Affiliate Manager won’t steal their ideas and share them with other
publishers. Also, Publishers need to trust that when an Affiliate Manager recommends a campaign that it is actually a good campaign and that they’re not just “pushing” campaigns for the Affiliate Manager’s benefit.

15. If you could change one thing about the affiliate industry, what would it be?

Eliminate frauders.

16. What do you think about where the industry is going? Where Qwik Media may be going? What advice would you give to affiliates to keep up the pace.

I think the industry will continue to grow overall and it will continue to clean up as regulations increase and change. The Performance Marketing business model works and I feel Qwik Media will be on the leading edge as we diversify into an Agency model and more traditional marketing over the next few years. For now our focus is on our Affiliate Network.

I’d suggest for Affiliates to reserve 10% of their time to stay up to date on changes in the industry and technology to learn about new opportunities, traffic sources and ways to grow their business.

17. What are your goals in 2010?

Goal setting is a big part of succeeding, especially in this industry. I won’t share the specifics of my goals, but they are very ambitious and I set the bar high for myself and Qwik Media. That way we will continue to over achieve.

Bachman September 20, 2010

i haven’t heard this clown mention one thing he does for advertisers. These chop shops churn and burn offers and hope to get paid. Stay away from all of them. They cater strictly to rogue affiliates. Affiliate networks like this will be the first to burn – soon.

I answered these questions based on the audience that would be reading the interview, Affiliates.

You’ll notice that I did comment above “But, in order to keep our traffic legit and our advertisers happy we take the time to review traffic and question each new publisher application in order to ensure only the best and legit publishers make it into the Qwik network.”

We are well aware of the importance of generating quality leads for our Advertisers and working closely with them to cater to their needs in order to create long term relationships.